


Summer Lover: 30 Days

by blue_periwinkle



Category: So Nyuh Shi Dae | Girls' Generation, f(x)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-11 13:34:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2070147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_periwinkle/pseuds/blue_periwinkle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soojung is perfect for a human being.</p><p>She is smart, she is beautiful, and she might look cold but she is really kind.</p><p>But something is missing from Soojung.</p><p>Love.</p><p>Soojung never falls in love and never wants to.</p><p>But in her last summer at high school, will she finally find love? Or will she stay loveless forever?</p><p>She might want to start with having a ‘summer lover’ first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day Zero: Prologue

“Finally, summer holiday starts tomorrow!” Amber half-shouts as she rests her back on the wooden chair. Soojung gives her best friend a look and snorts, “I bet it’s not the holiday you’re looking forward to.”

“Oh really? You think so?” the short-haired girl gives the younger a smirk, “then, what am I looking forward to?”

“a whole month worth of dates with Henry Lau,” the brunette scoffs, “your boyfriend.”

“Hey, you don’t have to be so grumpy just because I have a boyfriend!” Amber laughs, “I’m still your best friend anyway!”

“Don’t you know? Research has shown that for every relationship, you will lose two of your friends,” Soojung deadpans, “I just don’t like to think about it, sorry.”

“That won't happen!” the older girl denies, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Well, if you’re so afraid, why don’t you go get yourself a boyfriend?” she asks, raising an eyebrow. The Korean-American cringes, “Am.”

“Okay, fine. So why don’t you go get yourself a girlfriend?”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” she retorts, “why be in a relationship when you can just be single and save yourself for any potential heartbreak in the future?”

“Woah, woah, WOAH,” the tomboy raises her hands, “calm the shit down, Krystal Jung Soojung. You make it sounds like every relationship will end up like that!”

“Well, won’t they?” the younger looks away, “I mean… I want the best for you, of course, but I’m just… not into relationship, okay? It’s, uh… a waste of time. Yeah, that’s it.”

Amber understands very well why her best friend acts like that, but she’s getting tired of Soojung nagging about how ‘relationship is stupid’ or ‘I don’t want and don’t need to love anyone’. She realizes that this will be their last summer in high school, so why not try to hook the brunette up?

A wicked smile soon forms on her face, “yeah, sure…” she mumbles as her brain begins racking up an idea. Soojung doesn’t like that smile, but she can’t say anything. Amber is scarily stubborn when she’s planning something, and now she can only hope that the tomboy won’t do anything bad to her.

Oh well, at least she did hope.

 

* * *

 

“Sulli!” A certain tomboy shouts as she spots her other best friend’s back. Jinri turns around and smiles, “Hey, Am! What’s up?”

“I need your help,” the taller girl raises an eyebrow, “oh really? With what?”

“First… do you still work at that place? You know, the ‘Summer Lover agency’ or something?” Amber asks. Jinri stares at her friend, unsure of her true intentions, “uh, yes?”

“Perfect! So, regarding that…” the short-haired girl grins, “I have this friend who has never been in a relationship before, and I’m afraid that if I set her up on blind dates she might freak out and whatnot… You’re my friend, so she’ll trust you, I think…” she mumbles the last part, but Jinri can hear it clearly, although she decides not to say anything. “Well, I’ll see what I can do… but wait, did you just say ‘she’?”

“Uh… she’s gay, or so she says. Well, I remember you saying stuffs about being a lesbian too, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?” the tomboy asks. Jinri nods, “I don't know... well, let's just hope so. What’s her name? And for how long will you need my service?”

Amber smiles gratefully at her, “Her name’s Krystal Jung Soojung, and I’ll need you to be her girlfriend for 30 days.”


	2. Day One: Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “WHAT SORRY YOU FREAKIN IDIOT LLAMA! How dare you hook me up with that Sulli without my consent!”

Krystal Jung Soojung is not an unknown name at SM Academy. Far from it, actually. She is so unbelievably famous that most, if not all, alumni and people in the city know her name at the very least. That’s to be expected considering her background as the famous model, Jessica Jung Sooyeon’s younger sister, but then again the girl herself has some awesome qualities that separate her from the others.

For instance, Soojung, as she usually wants to be called, has what might be the prettiest face in the country, comparable to her sister. She has beautifully flowing brown hair, cat-like pair of eyes, pronounced jawline, and a pair of pink, luscious lips. She also has a pale, porcelain-like complexion, very well-built abs, and ideally-shaped body. Her height is perfect, not too tall but definitely not too short. A walking, living Barbie doll indeed.

To complete it, she has very brilliant personalities. She is intelligent, always placing her name on the top two ranks. She is impossibly kind and bright. She might look cold at first glance, but that’s actually her defense mechanism as she’s quite a shy person. Once you get to know her, she’s simply the friendliest girl around. Often, if you’re close with her, she acts funny and cute, showcasing aegyos only she can pulls off perfectly. She still has her own moments of cold acts, though.

Soojung has a few people who she calls as her best friends, namely Amber, the famous tomboy, Luna, the top student who competes with her often in ranks, and Victoria, the student council president. There are many more she can call her close friends, but with those three, Soojung has never been closer. They’re practically inseparable, like sisters (other than Jessica). Amber, Luna, and Victoria have known Soojung like the back of their palms. They know of Soojung’s secret love of Korean dramas (often preparing tissues because the youngest can be so random with her outbursts of tears), of Soojung’s hobby of singing weird odes while doing some weird and random movements (she calls it ‘dancing’ but Victoria feels offended because she’s sure those bizarre moves can’t be called ‘dancing’) at the rooftop where they always meet together for lunch, and of Soojung’s apparent dislikes of relationship (not hate, because according to her, ‘hate is a very strong word’).

Yes, Soojung dislikes relationship. She thinks relationship is a stupid thing, a manifestations of temporary feelings that can wear off within time. She doesn’t believe in relationship, she thinks it’s stupid to engage in one. However, she’s not a player, far from it. She is, as Amber will call it, a ‘virgin’ when it comes to relationship. Very clueless, very naïve, but only when relationship is the main topic. That is Soojung.

Soojung scoffs a lot whenever Amber talks sweetly with Henry, her musician boyfriend. Soojung rolls her eyes a lot whenever Luna feeds Onew, her boyfriend of one year and a half, with his favorite chicken. Soojung sighs a lot whenever Victoria texts Zhoumi, her boyfriend from the nearby university, with a huge grin plastered all over her goddess-like face. Soojung does that not only because she dislikes relationship, but because she’s _gay_.

That’s another secret only the trio knows. No one, not even the trio, has ever thought that the perfect Krystal Jung Soojung is a closeted gay because she never admits it nor has she explicitly shows any interest in her same-gender friends. She always said it’s just because those boys aren’t attractive enough for her, but when Amber caught her secretly ogling over a hot female model named Summer Choi when the latter came to play with Jessica at the Jung residence, she finally admits that she thinks she might be ‘just a tiny bit’ gay. Not that the trio will judge her anyway, they’re quite open-minded and are okay with Soojung’s sexual preference.

But still, Soojung is quite stubborn with her opinion. Usually, the three of them are fine with Soojung’s obvious dislike towards relationship, but they, especially Amber because she’s the closest with Soojung, eventually feel worn out with the brunette’s constant behavior around their boyfriends, because Soojung can’t make it obvious enough that she doesn’t like PDA in the slightest. They’re afraid that their boyfriends will feel uncomfortable, but they’re also afraid that Soojung will feel sad and heartbroken if they just suddenly tell her to stop doing whatever she always does whenever Henry, Onew, and Zhoumi are involved. Soojung is their friend after all, the most fragile one too. They don’t want to hurt her feelings.

So when Amber comes to Luna and Victoria with a plan in her head, the two have never feel even happier. They’re determined to get this to work. They’re going to change Soojung’s opinion at all cost.

“We have to succeed!” Amber shouts, “For Soojung’s happiness!”

“For Soojung’s happiness!”

 

* * *

 

Sulli Choi Jinri lives in the more urban side of the city, full with thugs and beggars and whatnot. For a girl, a beautiful one at that, living under constant fears of rape and theft and murder comes as an unwanted extra perks. But Jinri is different. Jinri smiles when those thugs are stripping her off her clothes with her eyes. Jinri smiles when she puts a dollar onto the beggar’s open palms. Jinri smiles even when she comes home to an empty, small apartment she calls home, exhausted and starving.

Jinri isn’t rich, but she isn’t poor either. She’s standing at the thinnest line between saving money for living and starving herself to death. Jinri doesn’t worship money nor does she think it is the most important thing in the universe. She puts everyone’s happiness over her own, and if money has to be involved then so be it. Jinri’s source of living is everyone’s smiles.

Jinri claims that she isn’t a workaholic, but it’s hard to believe considering the amount of part-time jobs she has. Jinri works at the small café near SM Academy as a barista, at the seafood restaurant near the Han River as a waitress, at the neighborhood houses as a housekeeper, at the bookstore behind the café as a clerk, at anywhere, thus she becomes famous for almost everyone has seen her at least once during their time in the city. Jinri works to keep herself busy so that she won’t have to remember how hungry she is after only eating a toast of bread for breakfast every single day. But whenever she sees the smiles plastered on everyone’s face as they praise her for her great work, she always remember that she does all this not because she has to, but because she wants to. Jinri is special like that.

Jinri is beautiful, like an angel sent from heaven to brighten the gloomy Earth. She is tall; standing at 170cm. She has a long brown hair, porcelain-like complexion, mesmerizing legs, childishly cute voice, baby-like charms, and hypnotizing pair of black orbs that curve into a crescent-like shape whenever she smiles. Jinri’s smile is unique; so innocent and childish yet holds so many secrets and gives off a very mellow vibe. Mysterious and captivating.

It’s not hard to be her friends. Jinri is impossibly friendly, but still being carefully selective of her choice of friends. Her friends aren’t all as famous as she is, but they have their own charms that make them lovable. Take Bae Suzy, for example. The same-aged friend of Jinri is almost equally as innocent, plus the cute bunny teeth that makes her pretty and mesmerizing with her own charm that differs from everyone. Or Kang Jiyoung, another friend of Jinri who looks somewhat older than she is, but still look young enough to be pretty and lovely, especially with her bubbly personality.

Together with the two, Jinri works at a special place only open during summer known as ‘Summer Lover agency’. The agency works in the ‘timed relationship’ where you request any of the employees (all of whom are female) to be your or your friend’s girlfriend for a limited amount of time, the longest being 30 days. You will then be allowed to either make the ‘summer lover’ your official girlfriend or just move on with life and get another girl besides the other employees (of course you can’t ask anyone else in the agency to be your girlfriend. That’s just plain rude). However, the agency doesn’t work as a matchmaker or some sorts, instead more of being ‘a place where the young empty souls can find someone to fill their heart with during summer season’.

So far, Jinri has yet to receive a client simply because she’s new and is barely experienced with relationship. It’s not that she wants to, but because she doesn’t have time to, as she has too many things to do to even bothers with anything else. The other reason is that she’s a lesbian, or more like a ‘half-closeted, half-out’ type of lesbian. Only Suzy and Jiyoung, both are lesbians themselves, and Amber, her friend who’s a regular customer at the small café where she works as a barista, know about it (Amber accidentally found out when she was secretly ogling at Jessica Jung while reading a fashion magazine).

So when Amber asks her to be her friend’s (who’s apparently a girl) girlfriend, she doesn’t know if she should accept for the sake of friendship, or refuse because she’s not experienced enough and because according to the tomboy, her friend has never been in a relationship before. She doesn’t want the other girl’s first relationship (albeit a half-fake one) to be awkward and not worth remembering (in a good way, of course).

But Jinri puts everyone else’s happiness before her own, so of course her answer will be a ‘yes’.

Now all she can do is hope that she will do a good job.

 

* * *

 

“Amber Liu, you better have a very convincing reason for dragging me out of my cozy house at fucking ten in the morning and disturbing me from my beauty sleep that I so desperately need!” Soojung’s words flow so fast the tomboy barely manages to understand, “uh… well… I’ll explain later, okay? Just come with me to the usual place, please? Luna and Victoria have their own things to do and so is Henry…”

“WHAT THE HELL!?” The Korean-American explodes, “So, I’m just some replacement because Henry isn’t there to babysit you!?”

“N-N-NO! FUCKING NO! I don’t mean it like that, I swear! Gosh, Krys!” Amber groans in frustration, messing her short hair, “God, you and your morning temper!”

“Shut up,” Soojung hisses in irritation. The older sighs, “Look, I’m sorry for pulling you away from your stupidly cozy king-sized bed but you can’t just stay rooted there forever, right? C’mon! It’s not every day we can hang out together, just the two of us, while the sun is still brightly shining!”

As irked as Soojung is, she can’t help but agree with her best friend. Before holiday, they both were so busy they barely had time to do stuffs friends usually do. It doesn’t help that Amber is the star player of SM Academy’s own basketball club and Soojung being the sister of Jessica often gets love calls from many fashion magazines asking her to be their photo-shoot model. And even when they did have time together, Victoria and Luna always came into pictures. Not that the youngest hates it. The two are practically her sisters, but Amber is a bit more special because she was the first person Soojung had ever befriended.

“Krys? Hey, you there?” Amber’s voice breaks her from her reverie. Smiling slightly, she shakes her head, “nothing… fine, let’s get this over with. Where are we going to, stupid llama?”

The tomboy laughs, which earns her a confused stare from the Korean-American, “what? Why are you laughing like an idiot?”

“You, Krystal Jung Soojung, are the idiot one here,” she tries to stop herself from laughing before using her index finger to make an invisible circle in the air, a gesture they use to say ‘look at your surrounding’. Soojung raises an eyebrow but does as told nonetheless, and as soon as she realizes what her friend means her face reddens in embarrassment. They have actually arrive at their usual café near their academy, but she was so busy ranting she didn’t notice it at all. Amber laughs again at the silly scene in front of her, “you’re so weird, Krys.”

“S-Shut up…” the younger murmurs under her breath, locking her gaze to the ground as she can’t bring herself to look at the tomboy. After her laugh subsides, Amber searches for the waitress from her seat, motioning her to come and write down her and Soojung’s orders.

“I want Caramel Macchiato and an Oreo cheesecake,” she says to the waitress before looking at the silent Soojung, “hey, Krys, what do you want?”

The called girl, meanwhile, is busy staring at something else that she doesn’t hear the older’s question. Amber huffs in annoyance but follows her gaze nonetheless. Soon, a knowing smirk spreads across her face.

Soojung is staring at someone, a girl to be exact, who is busy behind the counter preparing another customer’s orders in swift movements and full concentration. She sees the tall barista wiping her sweats with her work outfit’s sleeve and licking her tongue at the same time as she pours the black-colored liquid into the white porcelain mug.

“Black coffee for Mr. Kim!” the beautiful barista calls gleefully, placing the filled mug on top of the counter, leaving it alone as she prepares for another orders. Soojung wonders how someone as tall as her can have a cute kid-like voice that sounds so innocent and youthful.

The older girl who has been looking at the brunette sighs and turns her gaze to the waitress instead, “sorry… but I think my friend is still lovestruck. Can I have Americano for her? Oh, and a piece of red velvet cake, please.” The waitress nods and jots down the order onto her notepad. Just as she is about to leave, Amber calls out suddenly, “wait! Can that _cute, tall barista_ bring our order when they’re done?”

“Amber!” Soojung snaps her head to her best friend, shock written all over her face. The other just smirks and ignores her. The waitress, though unsure, nods slowly before leaving for real, making her way to the tall barista and hands her the order. She also whispers something to the baby-faced girl, which makes her brows furrow in confusion. Only when she sees Amber and Soojung do her confusion disappears, replaced with a smile. She nods and starts preparing the orders right away.

The brunette shoots her best friend a deadly glare, “what the fuck do you think you’re doing, Amber!?”

“What? What do you mean?” the tomboy feigns innocence, but Soojung knows better, “what are you planning, actually!?”

**Uh oh, this is bad. Quick, Amber! Say something!**

But before the short-haired girl can say anything, a tray of foods and beverages makes contact with their table, surprising both girls as they look at the intruder with shocked face, but soon replaced with two different expressions, awestruck for Soojung and knowing for Amber. The latter greets the barista who’s looking at them with a smile, “hey, Sulli!”

“Hey, Am!” Jinri greets cheerfully before looking at the spacing out girl with a confused smile, “uh, is she your friend?”

“Yeah! She’s Krystal, Krystal Jung Soojung,” as soon as the name escapes Amber’s mouth, Jinri’s eyes widen and her mouth forms an ‘O’ shape, “so, this is her?”

“Yup!” the older answers all too happily. She looks at Soojung and realizes that her best friend is practically ogling the taller girl shamelessly. **What a good reaction. This’ll be easier than I thought** , Amber thought.

“Hey, Krys! You okay?” she jokes and snaps her finger in front of the younger’s eyes, snapping her out of her stupor. Soojung glares at the grinning tomboy and looks back at the taller girl nervously, fidgeting her fingers under the table. She wants nothing more than to disappear right now because she thinks she’s going to melt because of the barista’s radiating beauty. All her life, Soojung has always been surrounded by gorgeous and sexy women, but the tall girl is on a whole different level. The girl’s natural beauty and cute charm can put even the Goddess of Beauty, Venus, to shame.

**Good God… Am I in heaven right now because no way is this girl a human being. She must be a fallen angel or something…**

“I-I’m K-Krystal Jung… B-But call m-me S-Soojung…” she mentally scolds herself for badly stuttering. She then hears giggles from above her and when she tilts her head upward, she blushes immediately. The taller girl is stifling her laugh while showing the brunette her beautiful eyesmile.

Soojung has seen so many eye smiles, from her sister’s model friend Tiffany to her own friend Luna, but never has she seen such a perfectly shaped eyesmile. The curves those pair of onyx-colored eyes make when she curls the end of her lips upward looks so perfectly shaped that the Jung can’t help but be mesmerized. **So beautiful…** she thought.

“I’m Choi Jinri, but you can call me Sulli!” the taller girl introduces herself, “nice to meet you, Soojung-ssi!”

“Oh n-no! D-Don’t call me like that!” Soojung intervenes, earning yet another confused stare from the eye smiling girl. **Dear God, this beauty and her cute confused face will be the death of me…**

“I-I mean…” she gives her best friend a desperate look that screams ‘help me!’ but the tomboy whistles and looks away, pretending not to know anything. The brunette makes a mental note to kill Amber after this is over. She clears her throat awkwardly and looks back at the barista, “y-you can j-just call me S-Soojung… w-without any formalities…”

She discreetly sends Amber a death glare when she sees the older girl trembling on her seat with one of her hand covering her mouth and another clutching onto her stomach, trying her best to hold in the laughter that threatens to burst out. It’s not every day you can see the confident and cold-looking Krystal Jung Soojung stuttering like she’s going to piss herself and blushing like a ripened tomato. **I should have brought my camera! Too bad Vic and Luna aren’t here to witness this epic moment** , the short-haired girl thought.

“Oh, okay… so,” Jinri beams yet another heartwarming eyesmile, and Soojung is sure that a part of her dies due to cuteness overload, “nice to meet you, Soojung-ah!” said the tall girl happily.

“Choi Jinri! Come here and starts brewing these coffees or you’re in trouble!” an authoritative voice emanates from the kitchen, surprising the called girl. Jinri looks at her friends and smiles apologetically, “I’m sorry; I have to go back to work…”

“It’s okay, Ssul! We’ll wait for you, ‘kay? Let’s hang out together after your shift’s over!” Amber says and nudges the still-blushing younger girl, “right, Krys?”

“A-Ah, y-yeah…” the brunette stammers nervously, but happily, “we’ll… we’ll wait for you.”

“You don’t have to, really. But thank you!” Jinri smiles again, “It’ll end soon, so just wait patiently, okay?” she says before returning back to her station.

“Cute girl, don’t you think?” Amber starts, only to gulps when Soojung gives her yet another chilling death glare, “don’t you dare, Amber Liu. Just think about your boyfriend.”

“Eii, someone’s jealous~” the tomboy chimes playfully, but looks away immediately in fear, “let’s just drink, okay?”

Soojung sighs and looks at the glass in front of her, filled with black liquid known as Americano coffee. She cringes, “why the fuck did you order Americano for me?”

“I know you don’t like Americano but trust me, Sulli’s Americano is the best in the whole world,” Amber says, a bit more serious than usual, “you won’t regret it. You have my words.”

The Korean-American looks at her friend with doubts as she brings the lid of the mug closer to her lips. But the moment the liquid enters her throat, she almost chokes herself in surprise, “this is… so good!”

“What did I tell you, Krys?” Amber smirks and sips on her own Caramel Macchiato, “Sulli’s the best when it comes to coffee, really.”

Soojung doesn’t say anything in response as she continues to drink her Americano. She has never like coffee before, but now she can say for sure that Americano, or Jinri’s Americano to be exact, is her favorite drink in the whole world.

 

* * *

 

Soojung almost chokes on her red velvet cake and blurts out all profanities and curses she can think of when the news comes to her like a wrecking ball. Amber shrieks when the younger girl lunges at her and almost strangles her to death, “Y-Yah, Krys! I-I’m sorry, okay!”

“WHAT SORRY YOU FREAKIN IDIOT LLAMA! How dare you hook me up with that Sulli without my consent!” Soojung yells in sheer anger and frustration. Sure, Jinri is beautiful, gorgeous even, but that doesn’t mean her views in relationship changes. Nope, not at all. No, really…

Okay, maybe just a tiny little bit, like really little, but she isn’t ready to get into one. Not at all!

“You better cancel it now, Am!” she fumes, hoping that maybe this entire ‘summer lover’ thing can be cancelled. But to her disappointment, Amber shakes her head, “I can’t! I already pay and there’s no way I can cancel it!”

“See! It’s paid! It’s not sincere-” Soojung rants on but the older girl interrupts her, “trust me, Krys. They’re professionals, and by professional, I mean they’re going to pour 100% of their feelings and time to make sure their relationship works! You don’t know how many girls who used to work at that agency quit because they found their true love.”

“Besides,” the tomboy continues, “she might be beautiful, but Sulli has never been in a relationship.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nah, I’m dead serious.”

“No fucking way,” Soojung breaths out. **A girl as angelic as Sulli has never date before?**

“Well since she’s so angelic in your eyes, it makes even more sense to try this out, right?” Amber laughs. The brunette gasps, “you can read minds!?”

“No, silly. You said that out loud,” Amber laughs again as she stands up and places a couple of dollars on top of the table, “I gotta go, Henry texted me and said that we are going to watch a movie together. Enjoy your date, Krys!”

“Y-Yah! What am I supposed to do!?” Soojung asks in panic. Being so inexperienced in love, she doesn’t know what people do on ‘dates’. There’s no way she’s going to bring the barista to the movie theater or to the shopping mall like what her three best friends usually do, she had just met the girl today for God’s sake!

**Wait, why does it seem as though I’m dating that Sulli!? Sure, we might be ‘summer lovers’ or whatever right now but-**

“Just ask her! You bring your car, right? Just drive her around!” Amber answers dismissively, “gotta go. See ya tomorrow, Krys!”

“Wait, Am-” but too bad, Amber leaves the café immediately. “Screw you, llama!” the Korean-American scoffs in irritation.

“Hi, Soojung-ah!” the called girl jumps on her seat when the familiar cute voice appears from behind her. She turns around and sees the barista now wearing more comfortable and casual clothes consisting of checkered shirt and denim vest with long black jeans and a pair of pink Nike sneakers. **Shit, she still looks so beautiful even with plain clothing…** Soojung thought. Jinri’s eyes wander around the café for a while before she asks the brunette, “where’s Amber?”

Somehow, Soojung feels disappointed that the idiot llama is the one Jinri is looking for. “She went home to prepare for a date with her boyfriend,” she sneers. Jinri laughs, “ah, with Henry? Somehow, that’s not very surprising.”

“You know Henry?” Soojung asks in surprise. “Yeah… well, not really. Amber told me a lot about him but I never meet him personally.”

“I see…” the shorter girl nods. Silence begins to envelop the atmosphere between the two girls and Soojung thinks it is awkward, like really awkward. “Uh… do you wanna go somewhere?” she asks the taller girl, mentally patting herself on the back for not stuttering like a fool this time.

“Hm? Well…” Jinri places her index finger on her chin, thinking. Somehow, the brunette finds the action cute and sexy at the same time. “I think I’m going to go to the supermarket.”

“Alright, let’s go. I’ll drive you there,” the Korean-American announces and walks away, but stops when she feels that Jinri isn’t following her, “what’s wrong?”

“Err, you don’t have to… I can walk there by myself,” Jinri says sheepishly. **Cute.**

“It’s okay,” Soojung says, suddenly being a bit happier than usual, “besides, we’re supposed to be dating right now, right?”

The barista laughs. “So Amber told you,” she says.

“Yeah… and as much as I hate relationship,” the brunette fishes out her car key, “I hate wasting money more, especially if that stupid llama is the one paying for me.”

**And because you’re so beautiful, it’ll be stupid of me to leave you alone.**

 

* * *

 

“So, why don’t we like, uh, introduce ourselves in more details since this is our first day meeting each other?” Soojung asks as she turns on her car’s engine. Jinri chuckles while putting on her seatbelt, “I suppose. So, my name is Choi Jinri but most people call me Sulli. I’m 18 this year, born on March 29th 1994, came from Busan, and my favorite color is pink!” finishes the taller girl gleefully. She the looks at the brunette beside her who’s smiling while still focusing on the road, “your turn, Soojung-ah!”

Soojung’s smile turns into a grin, “my Korean name is Jung Soojung, but most people call me with my American name which is the English version of my name, Krystal. I’m the same age as you, born on October 24th, so that makes you older than me. I’m from America, San Francisco to be exact, and my favorite color… is black, I guess?”

“Cool!” Jinri exclaims with a wide smile on her face, “Now, do you want to have a Q&A session, Soojung-ah?”

The younger girl laughs, “Q&A? Really?” but when she glances at the figure beside her she sees that Jinri is pouting cutely, her lower lips jutting forward. **Shit, she’s so cute…**

“Alright, alright… Who’s asking who first?” Jinri’s smile returns, “me, me! So, Soojung-ah, what do you do?”

“I’m a student,” Soojung answers curtly, “my turn. What do you do, Ssul?”

“Ssul?” Jinri suddenly asks out of the blue. The brunette realizes her slip of tongue and bites her lower lips, “s-sorry, since I thought that we’re in a mock relationship, I kinda got carried away-”

“No, it’s fine! It’s just, this is the first time anyone has ever called me like that,” Jinri chuckles, “and I think it sounds so cute. You can keep calling me that, Soojung-ah!”

Hearing that from the slightly older girl makes Soojung’s heart flutters suddenly which makes her uncomfortable, but she likes the feeling. “But, Soojung-ah is too mainstream!” she protests, “If I am to make you a special nickname, you should make one for me as well!”

“Oh, okay! Hmm…” Jinri stares out of the window for a while before her face brightens, “how about ‘Jungie’?”

“Hmm… I like that!” the Korean-American’s smile almost threatens to split her face into half. Just like how Jinri has never been called ‘Ssul’ before, Soojung too has never been called ‘Jungie’ all her life. She decides that she likes that nickname, especially if Jinri’s innocent and cute voice is the one saying it.

“Alright! Uh, what was your question again?” Jinri asks. “I asked the same thing you asked me. What do you do, Ssul?”

“Oh, I work part-time at various jobs,” Jinri’s smile falters slightly, “and I… don’t go to school…”

“What? Why?” the other girl asks, surprise written all over her face. The taller girl smiles at her but it doesn’t reach her eyes, “that’s… a story for another time, unfortunately.” Soojung feels slightly disappointed, but shrugs it off. She tries to believe that Jinri isn’t ready to open up deeper secrets of hers yet.

“Now’s my turn!” the passenger continues, “Jungie, do you have a sister?”

The brunette gasps, “Ssul, you didn’t just ask me that, right?”

Jinri frowns, “what? Why?”

“My sister… Is Jessica Jung…” Soojung can’t believe it. She doesn’t like to admit it, but she’s famous for God’s sake! How come Jinri doesn’t know that!?

A gasp follows soon after, “Really!? The sexy runway and magazine model, Jessica Jung Sooyeon!?”

An unfamiliar feeling suddenly appears within Soojung, a feeling she doesn’t even know exist. She feels so upset at Jinri for calling her sister ‘sexy’, although she can’t deny that fact. She doesn’t know why, but she wants Jinri to call no one but her ‘sexy’.

**Why the hell am I thinking like this?**

“Jungie?” the taller girl calls softly, making the driver turns to meet her confused eyes, “what’s wrong? You suddenly become so quiet…”

“Nothing… and yeah, she’s my sister,” those words come out colder than she originally wants, which surprises her considering Jinri didn’t do anything except calling her sister ‘sexy’. **Why do I feel so… angry?**

Jinri too is shocked by the cold tone used but she smiles nonetheless, albeit a sad one, “u-uh… sorry…”

“For what?”

“For… upsetting you?”

Soojung laughs lowly, “you did nothing wrong, Ssul. Don’t worry, forget I said anything okay?” she smiles when Jinri unsurely nods, “how about you?”

“I have an older sister… but I haven’t met her since I came here from Busan,” Jinri finally smiles genuinely, “she’s here, though. In Seoul.”

“I see… what’s her name?”

“Sooyoung… Choi Sooyoung.”

“Maybe I can help you meet her someday,” Soojung flashes the taller girl a smile, “and we are here!”

 

* * *

 

After doing groceries shopping, Soojung offers to drive the taller girl home since the latter says that her home is close to the supermarket. Although Jinri initially refuses, she eventually gives up when the slightly younger girl starts being stubborn. What she doesn’t know is that Soojung actually wants to see where Jinri lives out of curiosity (no stalkerish motives included).

She is shocked beyond belief when she finds out that the angelic girl lives at the more dangerous part of the city, so shocked she can’t help but scold the barista, “why in the world would you live here, Ssul!? This place is not safe!”

Jinri only smiles, “I can only afford to live here, Jungie.”

That statement makes the younger girl frowns, “but… it’s… that’s…”

“Sure, I can try and move somewhere safer,” the slightly older girl says softly, “but then I won’t have enough money to eat at least once a day… And I’m only eating a slice of toast bread just by living here… imagine if I have to move somewhere else. This place is the cheapest in the whole Seoul, everywhere else are costly…”

“Still, I can’t allow this,” Soojung says firmly and stubbornly, “look at those thugs wearing spiky vest and ripped jeans! Their aura screams ‘dangerous’! What if you get hurt? What if-”

“Ssh, Jungie…” Jinri hushes her by placing her index finger on the younger’s parting lips, “I won’t get hurt, okay? Don’t worry about me…” she smiles sweetly, “and I’ll move out from here as soon as I have enough money. Trust me; I want to go away from here as much as you do.”

Soojung keeps mum not because she’s still angry nor because she doesn’t have anything else to say, but rather because of Jinri’s finger on her lips and the way her sweet, childlike voice slurs out those assuring words slowly but surely. It sounds so innocent but so sensual the Jung can’t help the blush that creeps out on her face all the way to the base of her neck, making her face as red as heated charcoal and as hot as burning fire.

“Jungie?”

“Y-Yes!?” The brunette blurts out in surprise, finally out of her trance.

“I said I have to go now,” the jet black-haired girl says, sounding quite amused, “so, please open the door.”

“O-Oh, okay!” the flustered girl clumsily opens the car’s door, “I-I’m going to escort you to your apartment!”

“What? There’s no need-” but she gets interrupted, “I won’t let you walk alone and that’s final.”

Jinri can’t help but smiles gently at the shorter girl, “Aww, that’s so sweet of you. Are you sure you’ve never been in a relationship before, Jungie?”

Soojung freezes. **What does that supposed to mean? Is this… Is this how relationship works?**

“Positive,” she quickly says, “Come on, I want to see your apartment.”

 

* * *

 

After walking Jinri back to her apartment (which also includes glaring at those perverted thugs who look like they’re undressing Jinri with their eyes), Soojung gets into her car with a light feeling. She can’t describe what it is, but she feels as though she’s flying (no, she’s not high on drugs. She doesn’t even do drugs) and happy as well. She looks out of the window, all the way to a still-lit window of Jinri’s apartment and a smile creeps out on her face.

**Maybe being in a relationship isn’t such a bad thing after all…**


	3. Day Two: Goddess, Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “She might be a goddess, but to me, you’re an angel.”

No one in the Jung residence (well, except the maids) are early birds, and that includes Soojung.

If there’s one thing Soojung dislikes more than wasting money and relationship, it’ll be waking up early, be it someone waking her up or she wakes up herself. Amber always says that Soojung’s morning temper is legendary scary and dangerous, so dangerous whoever dares to ignite it is definitely asking for a death wish.

But Soojung still has mercy for certain people, like Mr. and Mrs. Jung, her sister Jessica, and one more person…

*bzzt bzzt*

Soojung always puts her phone in silent mode whenever she’s asleep, but even the vibration is still strong and loud enough to wake her up from her beauty sleep. She groggily searches for her phone under her blanket without bothering to open her eyes. No matter what, every milliseconds of sleep is important for her.

*bzzt bzzt*

“Argh!” the brunette groans in an unladylike manner and throws her blanket away, fully awake now. She feels just how heavy her eyelids are, but still tries to make some efforts into opening them up for the sake of the damn phone. When she finally succeeded after five minutes, the phone has vibrated at least six more times and it still hasn’t been found.

“Where the fuck is that stupid phone!?” she growls under her breath, grabbing her pillow and throws it away, but still no sign of the phone. On the ninth buzz, she finally realizes that her phone is placed securely on top of her nightstand.

“What the fuck…” she face-palms, “I’ve been throwing a tantrum for nothing…”

*bzzt bzzt*

“Geez, that’s the tenth buzz already,” she murmurs grumpily, “that can’t be Amber, though…”

The youngest Jung finally picks up her phone and, when she looks at the name on her screen, she smiles.

It’s the only person outside her family that can wake her up in the morning without having to face HellKrys.

Victoria.

 

* * *

 

Victoria Song Qian is the second person Soojung had ever befriended.

It all started with Amber, being the friendly ~~llama~~ person that she was, coming to her usual hangout place with Soojung at SM Academy’s rooftop with someone the brunette had never met or seen before walking beside her. Being the shy person that she was, Soojung put on her cold poker face by instinct, but was shocked when Victoria greeted her cheerfully with a very broken but cutely innocent Korean, as if the shorter girl didn’t look scary cold at all.

Victoria is different. She is mature for her age, way more mature than everyone Soojung has ever met in her life, including Jessica. Victoria is motherly and down to Earth. She speaks politely but not too traditionally or formally polite. She has all the qualities of a good leader, hence why she was appointed as the student council president despite being a transfer student from China. Victoria is also an excellent cook, preparing the group’s lunchboxes every day without fail (except on holidays). She is a good listener, a walking diary who listens, records, and gives advices to anyone who confides to her. Because of all this, Victoria is always nicknamed ‘the perfect wife material’, which is accurate according to Soojung.

Soojung and Victoria share a special bond. To Soojung, Victoria is not a friend. The Chinese girl is like a second mother to her, someone she loves dearly above anyone else, well aside of her real family that is. Soojung being the sentimental person that she is often felt sad seeing Victoria dozing off during their lunch time because she stayed late the night before sorting paper works and proposals to give to the principal for the student council’s events or projects. She secretly cried when the oldest cried because she felt pressurized with her job and she always let the black-haired girl put her head on her lap because she felt so tired and sore due to the stress.

To Victoria, Soojung is also not a friend. Soojung is someone akin to her own sister that she never has, if not her own daughter. Being a good listener often means that she can’t confide to anyone, but Victoria finds comfort in telling all her problems to the Korean-American. Victoria likes the feeling of Soojung’s long, dark brown hair gently strokes her tired facial features whenever she leans on the latter’s shoulder after a very tiring meeting. Victoria likes to know that sometimes Soojung cries not because of the death of the lead protagonist in her favorite K-Drama, but because she feels for her. For that, no one, not even Soojung, knows that sometimes, Victoria cooks extra portion for the brunette’s lunch (besides, Soojung is a heavy eater).

That’s why it pained Soojung when Victoria, with a ridiculously big grin plastered all over her goddess-like face, announced to the group that she’s dating an apparently handsome guy from the nearby university named Zhoumi. It pained Soojung because Zhoumi’s appearance means she won’t be the sole confidant of Victoria’s problem, that he will be a new source of Victoria’s precious laughs, and that he will own Victoria’s heart, body, and soul.

Ever since then, Soojung dislikes relationship to her very core…

Or maybe way before then, but that’s another story for another time.

 

* * *

 

*beep beep*

The blinking light of Soojung’s phone’s screen breaks her out of her stupor. She sighs as the last part isn’t exactly what she wants to remember about her ‘Vic-umma’ early in the morning, but who’s there to blame? Well, no one.

Using all her morning strength, which is very little to begin with, she slides her finger across the screen and reads the message, a huge smile soon plastered her entire face.

From: Vic-umma~♥

Krystal~ Are you busy today? I was just wondering if you’d like to hang out with me today~ It’s fine if you don’t want to, but if you do, meet me at that newly opened restaurant near Han River~ don’t worry, it’s my treat ^^ I tried calling you but you wouldn’t answer :’( oh well, text me! ♥

The Jung can’t help but laugh at the cute message. She quickly sends her reply before she scurries to the bathroom, taking a quick shower.

To: Vic-umma~♥

Of course, umma~ I’ll be there at 10. Oh, and this’d better be our date! No Zhoumi involved!

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile, somewhere else in Seoul…

Suzy and Jiyoung are staring at the same person who had just come from the door. That person, who’s apparently a girl they both know and love like a sister, is smiling a bit wider than usual today as she fills in her attendance card and puts it into the attendance box. Right before the girl opens her locker, Suzy speaks, “did something happen, Jinri-ya?”

Jinri turns her head to meet her two friends’ questioning stares and giggles, “what makes you think so?”

“Well,” it’s Jiyoung’s turn to speak, “you look… brighter today… like, more energized?”

It’s true. Jinri somehow looks happier and brighter than she usually does, like somehow she had eaten more than ever today or as if she had finally received her salary, though only the former is true.

The tall girl chuckles, “Let’s just say that…” she pauses dramatically, chuckling more when she sees her two friends giving her the most interested looks ever, “I met an angel yesterday who helped me out of my misery.”

 

* * *

 

[FLASHBACK, YESTERDAY EVENING (06.30 P.M.)]

_“So…” Jinri stopped walking and looked at Soojung, “what do you usually eat at home, Ssul?” the brunette asked, curiosity latching her every word. The taller girl furrowed her eyebrows, wondering if she should tell the slightly younger girl the truth or not, but actually, lying was never an option for her._

_“A slice of toast bread…” the jet black-haired girl paused, “…for breakfast.”_

_Soojung thought that Jinri would continue, but to her surprise, she didn’t. So she asked again, “and then? What about lunch? Dinner?”_

_She saw the hesitation in the taller girl’s eyes and the way she shuffled her feet discreetly gave away that she was hiding something, “well?”_

_“Uh…” the Busan girl breathed out, “No… only that…”_

_“For the entire day!?”_

_“Y-Yeah…”_

_“Ssul, are you crazy!?” Soojung knew she was making a commotion but honestly she didn’t care at all, “you’re going to get sick!”_

_“B-But!” Jinri tried to reason, “I don’t have money!”_

_“Then what are we doing here!?”_

_“T-To…” the tall barista was at a loss of words. She had never once thought that her ‘pretend-girlfriend’ would worry so much over her, she thought she was not exactly worthy of those worries, “b-buy a loaf of bread…”_

_Soojung glared her icy glare at the poor girl, “and that’s all?”_

_“Look, I said I-”_

_“Well, go grab a basket,” the Jung dismissed. Jinri shot her a bewildered look, “h-huh?”_

_“I said, go grab a basket,” Soojung sighed, “I’m going to pick healthy foods for you, and I assure you, there’s going to be a lot of them, so go and grab a basket.”_

_“Jungie, I don’t-”_

_“Have any money? Doesn’t matter, I’m paying,” the shorter girl smirked, “and you’re not allowed to stop me.”_

 

* * *

 

“Helped you out of your misery?” Suzy’s voice breaks her out of her reminiscence, “wow, Jinri-ya. If I hadn’t known better, I’d say you’re a damsel in distress and whoever this angel of yours is, he or she is your knight in shining armor.”

“So romantic!” Jiyoung adds with a dreamy look, “oh, you’re so lucky, Jinnie. I wish I have someone like that, too!”

Jinri laughs, “well, I’m sure you will,” she looks at her wristwatch and gasps, “oh shit, I’m late for my part-time job!”

“Which job is it again?” Suzy jokes, knowing perfectly well what a workaholic her best friend is. The Choi laughs again, “the Han River one, you know… that new seafood restaurant, I’m a waitress there.”

“Well, shoo then!” Jiyoung waves her hand at her friend, “you better bring us foods when you come again!”

“No promise!” Jinri answers back curtly before leaving the agency. The two girls exchange looks before they stand up and open the attendance box, taking Jinri’s attendance card out and open it. Surprises are written all over their face when they read the content,

Name: Sulli Choi Jinri

Status: Taken (Summer Lover: Krystal Jung Soojung)

Duration: 30 Days (Currently on 2nd day)

 

* * *

 

Soojung cares for her appearance as much as she cares for her family and friends.

The moment she steps out of her car, she’s greeted with numerous stares and murmurs as she walks gracefully into the restaurant, pleased with the fact that she has mesmerized people once again. Soojung is not an attention seeker, far from it. Like we all know, Soojung is a shy girl. But still her status as a celebrity’s sister means that she has to keep up with her image and people’s expectations.

This time, she’s sure she has done a very good job at it.

“Krystal~” a cute voice with broken Korean echoes from her left and she smiles. She recognizes this voice anywhere, “Vic-umma!” she looks at the beautiful Chinese woman and calls back teasingly, receiving a not-so-scary glare from the older girl. Soojung immediately receives a playful slap on her arm when she arrives at the table. “Yah! What ‘umma’!? You make me sound so old!” the other girl whines cutely.

“But you’re old!” the brunette retorts and laughs when she sees Victoria’s pouting lips, “don’t pout, unnie. It doesn’t suit you!”

“Hmph!” the goddess-like girl pouts even more and looks away. Soojung laughs yet again at the hilarious scene, “unnie~” she calls using her aegyo, “please don’t get mad~”

Victoria widens her eyes at the younger girl’s act, which in turn gets her a confused stare form the Jung, “what? What’s wrong, Vic-unnie? You suddenly-”

“Did you just,” the Chinese girl starts, “use your aegyo-”

Soojung interrupts, “Uh, I do that to you all the time-” but she gets cut by the taller girl,

“-in public?”

The brunette freezes. **Did I really just do that? In fucking public!?**

“I, uh…” even Soojung’s genius brain fails to find a reasonable answer, which causes Victoria to laugh openly, “what’s wrong, Krystal? You look flustered!”

“I… I…” honestly, Soojung doesn’t know why herself. Perhaps because she’s happy?

 

* * *

 

“Miss Choi, you’re late!” an authoritative-looking man in his fifties scolds the just-arrived tall girl while pointing his sweaty index finger at the girl’s flustered face, “you have five minutes to change into your uniform and starts working before I cut your salary or worse, kick you out of business!”

“I-I’m sorry!” she bows politely and quickly before she quickly runs to the staff’s bathroom, changing her clothes in a hurry. In those five minutes span between her and her fate, Jinri constantly slurs some strings of profanities under her breath, barely changing them into hopes and prayers that God has enough mercy to change her supervisor’s meaty mind, because every single one of her part-time jobs are important to her and getting fired for the stupidest of reason is definitely not allowed to happen. As soon as the last fabric of her work uniform consisting of short sky blue dress that showcases her long, slender, milky white legs and black apron wraps her body, Jinri storms out and grabs a pad and a ballpoint, eyeing the main area as her eyes goes into hawk-eye mode, not missing a single movement of the customers. She briskly looks at the wall clock. **One more minute** , she thought, **either someone raise their hand or I’m out of here.**

Then, as if on cue, a customer raises her right hand towards Jinri and waves it almost gleefully, and of course the tall waitress’s heart is also in glee at that moment. She’s saved by a hair’s thread.

Grabbing two menus lists, she calmly but confidently walks towards the customer, a girl who looks young and beautiful and somehow foreign, and another girl in front her, her back facing Jinri, with brown hair and slender pair of porcelain-like white arms crossed in front of her chest. That figure looks somewhat familiar to Jinri, but it’s not until she arrives at the said table that she realizes who it is.

“Jungie?”

Soojung looks up and gasps as her cat-like pair of eyes meet Jinri’s mellow ones.

“Ssul? What are you doing here!?” she asks, clearly surprised by the taller’s random appearance. Her orbs accidentally scan Jinri from head to toe, blushing at the sight of her mock lover wearing such a sexy-looking outfit. She doesn’t know whether she should be angry at the restaurant owner for making Jinri wear such a thing or be happy because let’s just face it, Jinri’s legs are the sexiest thing in the planet.

**Oh God, since when did I become such a pervert? Wait a second… why am I thinking perverted thoughts about Sulli!?**

Meanwhile, Victoria who’s completely clueless gives the two girls a very confused stare, “Krystal, who’s she?”

Soojung snaps out of her reverie and becomes flustered, not knowing what to say. What? You can’t expect her to nonchalantly says “oh, her? She’s my summer lover”, right?

Victoria laughs, “you’re so blunt, Krystal!” she manages to say in between her hard laughter. Soojung shoots her a weird look but when she looks at Jinri’s suddenly flushed face, she can’t help but ask, “What’s with her?”

The tall waitress chuckles, “apparently you said _‘oh, her? She’s my summer lover’_ out loud.”

**Oh, fuck!**

“I-I did?” Soojung’s face turns crimson red, completely embarrassed. Meanwhile, it takes the Chinese girl all her strength to stop laughing and when she finally does, she clears her throat while stifling the remnants of her laughter, “s-so… hehe… the almighty Krystal Jung… hehe… is in a… hehe… relationship?”

“Y-Yah, unnie~!” the youngest whines, face flushed and eyes filled with nervousness and embarrassment. Victoria can’t hold it anymore and laughs again, “oh my God, Krystal!” she says, her voice hitched, “what is wrong with you?”

Soojung looks away in pure embarrassment and only gets more embarrassed when she locks eyes with Jinri who looks like she’s stifling her laugh, “y-yah, don’t laugh!”

“N-No, I-I’m not… hehe… laughing…” the waitress struggles to speak as the urge to laugh becomes stronger, “s-so… hehe… what would you two… hehe… like to order?”

“I hate you, Ssul,” Soojung huffs in annoyance and covers her face with the menus book.

 

* * *

 

“So…” Victoria starts when Jinri leaves to pass the order to the kitchen, “since when do you do relationship? I thought you hate it to death?”

“‘Dislike’ please, not ‘hate’…” Soojung clicks her tongue, “this is not out of my own will. A certain idiot llama hooked me up with her.”

“Oh,” the Chinese girl’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape, “well, good for you! Amber has a good taste!”

The brunette makes a face, “nah, I don’t think so. Not after Henry Lau happened.”

“Hahaha!” Victoria laughs, “but that waitress is a good catch, I must say. And this says a lot considering I have a boyfriend!”

“Umma!” Soojung’s eyes widen, but the older girl pretends to hear nothing, “and I think your and Amber’s tastes are similar.”

“NO!” the brunette shakes her head frantically, “please elaborate as to why my taste and that llama’s taste are similar again!”

“Well, I can tell from the first glance that you’re attracted to that waitress,” Victoria smirks, “you won’t even bother with her if you’re not. And Amber chose her for you, right?”

The younger girl bites her lower lips and looks away, all the way to her mock-girlfriend who’s busy writing other customer’s order, “Do you think I’m attracted to her, Vic-umma?”

“No,” Soojung looks back at the Chinese girl who looks serious now, “I _know_ you’re attracted to her.”

“But, I don’t know…” the brunette sighs, “this is so weird to me. The feeling, _this_ feeling, it feels so foreign.”

“Krystal,” the jet black-haired girl says, “I think it’s normal for you to feel like that. This is the first time for you, right? Just…” she pauses, “try to embrace it, whatever you’re feeling right now. And when you know what it is… Either you let it go, or you keep it with you.”

Soojung looks at the working girl and smiles. “I think,” She whispers, “I can try that…”

“That’s nice to know,” Victoria smiles gently, “Sulli’s a good girl, I’m sure of it. If Amber trusts her, then I do too.”

“Hold on,” the shorter girl shoots the other a confused look, “how do you know her name? I didn’t introduce her nor did she introduce herself?”

The Chinese girl’s eyes widen, “uh…” she grins awkwardly, “well, Amber told me…”

“She did!?”

“Eii, calm down!” she waves her hands frantically, “this is my first time meeting her, I swear! She doesn’t even know me!”

“Still!” Soojung puffs her cheeks, “don’t tell me Luna knows about this too!”

Victoria smiles nervously and that doesn’t go unnoticed by the younger girl, “she does!?”

“But like me, Luna doesn’t know how Sulli looks like!”

“Unnie, you know how Luna is!” Soojung whines, “She’s going to tease me until the world ends!”

“Excuse me, your foods are here!” A voice suddenly exclaims from beside them. The brunette casts Jinri a glance and blush, as the waitress is wearing her thousands watt smile.

“Thank you, Krystal’s girlfriend~” Victoria jokes teasingly, which earns her a glare form Soojung and a shocked look from Jinri, “ah, wait, I didn’t get your name. I’m Victoria! What’s your name?”

 **This unnie!** Soojung fumes inwardly. The tall waitress giggles, “I’m Sulli! Nice to meet you, Victoria-ssi! Now,” she pauses, putting the plates on top of the table, “enjoy your food! If you need anything, you know what to do,” Jinri smiles and leaves the table.

“Unnie! What was that for!?” the brunette complains while Victoria laughs, “Oh please, it’s called manners! Besides,” she smirks teasingly, “I think she’s also attracted to you.”

Soojung stiffens. **Really!?**

 

* * *

 

Victoria have already left two hours ago, but Soojung is still there, standing beside her ridiculously luxurious-looking car outside the restaurant, waiting for a certain someone to finish her job and go home. Her tired face brightens when her eyes catch a sight of a tall girl bowing thankfully to her supervisor and co-workers before making her way to the parking lot, where Soojung is waiting. Jinri gasps, “Jungie, what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you?”

“What? It’s already dark out here,” Jinri stares at the shorter girl in disbelief, “why did you wait for me?”

“Because,” Soojung sighs, “my gut feeling told me you’re going to go home alone and like you said, it’s already dark. Your neighborhood isn’t exactly what I’d call friendly.”

“But…” the taller girl pouts, “I don’t want to burden you, Jungie.”

“Why would you burden me?” the Jung laughs, “come on, let me drive you home.”

Jinri stares at her summer lover for a while before diverting her gaze to the girl’s car, “your car looks fancy.”

The brunette gives Jinri a weird look, “that’s so random, but why, thank you. What’s with the sudden compliment, though?”

“Sometimes,” the Choi smiles, “I wish I have enough money to buy this type of things.”

“Is that why you’re working so hard?” Soojung asks.

“No, but my sister…” the taller girl smiles, “she once said that she’ll buy a sports car one day and drives it around Seoul with me sitting on the passenger’s seat. Since then, whenever I see one, I instantly remember her.”

“And?”

“And I wish,” Jinri stares at the calm river in front of her, giving off a serene vibe that mesmerizes Soojung somehow, “I wish I have enough money so that when I meet her, I can get her to drive me around Seoul, just like what she promised me.”

“I hope…” Soojung pauses, she doesn’t know why but she suddenly feels a sense of pity towards the other girl, “I hope you find her soon, Ssul.”

“Thank you, Jungie,” Jinri beams the Jung her angelic eyesmile, “by the way, that girl who was with you this afternoon… Victoria-ssi, wasn’t it? Who was she?”

“Just a friend, why?”

“She’s so pretty,” Jinri laughs, “like a goddess.”

“Well, her nickname is ‘the Chinese Goddess’,” Soojung laughs, “but you know, Ssul, I think you’re prettier than her. Just my opinion, though…”

“Really?” Jinri’s face reddens, “but, what’s prettier than a goddess anyway?”

“Hmm…” the brunette thinks for a while before her lips curls upward into a huge smile, “an angel.”

“An angel?”

“Yeah,” Soojung grins, “she might be a goddess, but to me, you’re an angel.”


	4. Day Three: Makeshift Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other person looks at the two girls weirdly and asks, “Are you two dating?”

If you’re so used to having a jam-packed schedule every day, a day off will be something you dread for, but when you finally get it, you probably won’t know what to do.

That’s exactly what happens to Soojung now that she doesn’t have anything to do and is bored as hell at home. She doesn’t have any photo-shoot for the day and she isn’t attending any summer school either. Well, what’s the use when you’re already one of the smartest students in your entire batch? Completely bored, Soojung decides to be a couch potato for a day… well, until she’s interrupted by none other than her beloved sister, Jessica.

“Yah, Soojung! Get off the fucking couch you lazy bum!” the older Jung’s high-pitched voice rings in Soojung’s ears like a destructive scream usually produced by a dolphin, and it doesn’t help that the brunette hates annoying noise. “Shut up, Sooyeon-unnie! God, my ears! My poor ears!” the taller girl whines, “what have you done to my precious hearing you-”

“Whatever, just go away!” Jessica lazily counters as she forcefully rolls her sister’s body off the couch before she slumps her back on top of it comfortably, “Ah, bliss!”

“Yah!” Soojung’s annoyance just gets to the next level, “I was here first!”

“I’m older than you, have some respect!”

“Don’t use the ‘I’m older than you’ card! I’m so reporting you to the police for authority abuse!”

Jessica makes a face, “go ahead and try! I dare you!”

But of course, that is just a lie… then again, Soojung isn’t one to give up, “fine, no police. But I’m telling dad on you!”

The blonde stares at her younger sister for a while before she smirks, “doesn’t matter to me. You know mom has a soft spot for me.”

Well, Mrs. Jung always wins over her husband anyway… so Jessica still gets the couch.

Soojung glares at her sister angrily before a brilliant idea struck her mind, “I’m telling Summer-unnie that you have a crush on her- mmph!” her words get muffled as Jessica covers her mouth in an urgent manner.

“Fine, fine! There, have your stupid couch for all that I care of!” the shorter girl hisses in defeat and stands up from the comfortable couch. **How the fuck does she know that!?** Jessica wonders.

Soojung smirks in victory as she reclaims what’s hers, but right after she rests her back, the TV shows a furniture commercial of… a meat-shaped plushy.

Oh, how weak our Soojung is when it comes to anything related to meat. “GODDAMNIT!” she squeals, “I’M SO BUYING THAT CUTE PLUSHY!”

And in an instant, Soojung runs away from the living room, all the way up the spiral stairs, straight to her bedroom, immediately to her closet, and thirty seconds later… voila! A chic, gorgeous looking Soojung comes out with her Gucci wallet inside her duffel bag and her car key dangling on her index finger, a wide, happy grin decorating her beautiful face which is now smeared with light and natural make-up. Those things meat can do to her…

“Unnie, I’m going out!” she shouts and, without waiting for her sister’s delayed response, runs out of their house.

Jessica who has been staring at her sister’s retreating back can only gape in bewilderment. Poor, poor Jessica. But then again, she gets the couch for herself just like what she wants.

“… I don’t want to know anymore.”

 

* * *

 

Soojung doesn’t always whistle, or the correct term is ‘never’, but you know she’s really, _really_ happy when she actually does it.

Riding along the lenient road beside Han River while blasting her favorite group, f(x)’s new track from their latest album, ‘Red Light’, Soojung whistles along while grinning like an asylum patient on the run whenever she does actually encounter a red light. Coincidence much.

Speaking of coincidence, her feline-like pair of eyes accidentally sees a familiar figure walking lightly on the pedestrian side of the road. She has her doubts, but pulls her car to the closest cemented road to the pedestrian’s pathway, and decelerates her car’s speed to match the girl’s. As her car finally lines beside the tall girl, the smile on her face intensifies, well if that’s even possible since her smile actually threatens to split her face into half.

“Ssul!” she calls out, ignoring the curious stares from other people who looks at her car like it’s coming straight out from a luxurious car’s magazine. The taller girl jolts slightly before she turns her head to her side, smiling at the sight that meets her eyes.

“Jungie!” Jinri shouts back, beaming the brunette her infamous eyesmile, “where are you going to?”

Soojung doesn’t listen, however, because she’s in a trance as the bright sunlight hits her mock girlfriend’s pale white face making it glows even brighter than it normally does. It’s so bright the Jung might lose her sight anytime soon if she keeps on staring, but her eyes perhaps have a mind on its own, seeing as how she can’t look away no matter how hard she tries.

**Is it possible for a human being to have such a radiating beauty like that? This girl is definitely heaven-sent, period.**

“Jungieee! Heeeyyy!” the Busan girl waves her hands repeatedly, but she doesn’t get any reaction. Slightly annoyed, she leans into the car from the opened window and stops just in front of the entranced girl, close enough for her to notice every single detail of Soojung’s flawless face, from the way she dons her makeups to the way her lips quiver slightly. Jinri puffs her cheeks as she’s still blatantly ignored by the slightly younger girl and snaps her long, slender fingers in front of the Jung’s face.

It works in getting the other girl out of her stupor, but upon seeing the absurdly close proximity between their faces, Soojung blushed madly and starts losing her senses bit by bit, again. She can faintly smell the girl’s shampoo; vanilla taste lingers on her taste buds right away. Her nose accidentally whiffs in the fragrances of heliotrope and lavender, a weird but surprisingly perfect combination of perfumes, and Soojung almost passes out if not for the little self-control she has left. But oh no, even those little thing she has might evaporates into nothingness as the way Jinri leans makes her cleavage partly visible, just enough to show some skins from her melons.

**God, should I go to heaven after all this tortures you’re giving to me, please tell my parents that I hope I make them proud with my achievements and tell Jessica how sorry I am for always waking her up with cucumbers and-**

“Jungieee! Seriously, snap out of it!” Jinri shakes the brunette’s body almost violently, finally getting Soojung out of her stupor, this time for real. The shorter girl struggles to regain her composure, “y-yes!? What is i-i-it?”

“You’ve been spacing out for quite a long time… are you okay?” the Choi asks, but once again Soojung doesn’t listen as her eyes dart away past Jinri, all the way to a perverted-looking man who’s been standing there for quite some time while looking at something…

Soojung looks at her mock lover’s attire and realizes what the man’s looking at. Jinri is wearing a one-piece peach dress with a strap handbag hanging on her right side and a matching light pink beret on top of her head.

“Ssul!” Soojung screams urgently, “Get in the car, now!”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me! Just get in the car!”

The confused Jinri can only follow in bewilderment. One moment the Jung is spacing out like no tomorrow and then suddenly she’s being forced to get into the luxurious sports car. **Jungie is weird** , she concludes while getting her upper body out of the car’s window and opens the door to get inside. Once she buckles her seatbelt, she voices her question, “what’s wrong with you, Jungie? Suddenly telling me to get into the car…”

Soojung answers without words as she points at the suspicious man who looks surprised at Jinri’s sudden action earlier. “I think,” She starts, not knowing why she suddenly feels embarrassed, “he… he was staring at something that he shouldn’t have seen…”

“And that would be…?”

The Jung’s face reddens while she points at Jinri’s bottom section of her dress, “well, whatever that dress is trying to cover…”

Jinri scrunches her eyebrows but soon as the realization dawn on her, she lets out a hearty laugh, “oh!” she breaths out, “don’t worry, I’m wearing shorts underneath!”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Soojung whines, “I don’t want people like him looking at my girlfriend like a perverted predator!”

“‘Girlfriend’?” a grin creeps out of Jinri’s angelic face, and she chuckles when she sees her pretend-girlfriend’s face which is now tainted with fifty shades of red, “I’m just kidding, Jungie! No need to get so flustered!”

“I-I-I-I-I-I’m n-n-n-not!”

“Yeah, sure… like the color of the sea is orange. Sure, sure,” Jinri rolls her eyes playfully, ignoring the embarrassed glare she receives from the other girl.

“L-L-Let’s just g-go a-already!” Soojung exhales and starts revving her car’s engines. The taller girl shoots her a glance, “where to?”

“T-The mall,” the brunette answers curtly, of which Jinri only nods and lets her drag her anywhere she wants.

 

* * *

 

“Excuse me, where can I find the ‘bedroom section’?” Soojung asks, dragging the powerless Jinri by the wrist. The moment they arrived, Soojung had dragged her to the furniture store in a rush like no tomorrow.

The store worker points to his left, “go straight from here and go left on the second turn- wait, where’d she go to?” he wonders as the two girls are no longer in sight. He then turns his head to the left and sees the supposedly shorter girl rushing quickly with the taller one following closely behind her in a dragged fashion. The brunette is definitely in a rush, but for whatever reason, the worker doesn’t know.

Soojung’s exasperated face is quickly replaced with an impossibly wide grin when her eyes catch the sight of a cute meat-shaped plushy, but just as she is about to grab it, someone else beat her to it. “YAH!” she screams, “it’s mine!”

The other customer winces at the loudness of the brunette’s voice and counters back, “it’s not yours! I see it first and grab it first, so it’s mine!”

“Why you-”

“Alright, alright!” Jinri thinks she has to interrupt the two before a fight erupts in freaking furniture shop, “Jungie, look, there’s another identical plushy behind it. Let her take this one and we will take that one, okay?”

Soojung pouts, “But I saw it first…”

“Jungie.”

“Fine, fine!” the shorter girl stomps her foot grumpily while giving Jinri a sullen look, “just because there’s another plushy…”

“Thank you, Jungie!” Jinri beams her eyesmile again, making the Jung’s face beet red. The other person looks at the two girls weirdly and asks, “Are you two dating?”

The Choi diverts her attention back to the woman who’s giving them a look and smiles, “no, but it’s quite complicated. Ever heard of ‘summer lover agency’?”

“Oh, I know that!” another voice exclaims from their right and the three turns their head to see a tanned woman smiling at them, “my friend used to work at that agency, though she quitted last year…”

“Yul!” the woman grins widely and tackles the intruder into a hug, almost causing both of them to fall. “Careful, Yoong! You could get hurt!” ‘Yul’ scolds, but her expression and voice are too soft to be considered angry. “I’m so sorry. My girlfriend is a choding,” she laughs, “I’m Kwon Yuri and this girl is Im Yoona. Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too! I’m Choi Jinri, but people call me Sulli,” Jinri answers and looks at the sulking girl next to her, “and this is-”

“Krystal,” Soojung answers curtly with a cold tone. Yuri stares at the brunette before she snaps her fingers, “Krystal as in Krystal Jung? Jessica Jung’s sister?”

“Wow, Jungie, you’re really famous,” the tall girl whispers. “I know,” the girl replies with an equal level of noise, which causes the Kwon to laugh, “it’s not nice to whisper in front of someone else, kids!” she breathes out before looking at Yoona lovingly, “so, got what you’re looking for, Yoong?”

“Yup yup!” Yoona chirped while showing her girlfriend the meat plushy she fought for with Soojung earlier, “isn’t it a cutie?”

The Jung scoffs and grumbles under her breath, “but I saw it first…”

Jinri chuckles at her mock girlfriend’s behavior and rubs her back gently, “patience, Jungie. Look at that smile, isn’t it beautiful?”

Soojung glances at the Im and it’s clearly evident that she’s really happy and satisfied with the plushy. The shorter girl decides to just let her be; besides, she also gets her own plushy and Jinri rubbing her back in a soothing manner.

“Well, we’ll just go on ahead then…” Yuri suddenly says to the two youngest, “See you two later!”

“See you!” Jinri says happily while Soojung just waves at the two people. “So, are we also done here?” the Choi asks. The brunette nods slightly, a bit guilty that she dragged her pretend girlfriend for something she can do on her own. “How about,” she pauses, “I treat you lunch?”

“Oh no, it’s okay! You already treat me last time, Jungie! I can’t ask for something like that again!”

“I insist, Ssul. Aren’t you hungry? It’s almost lunch time!”

“But I’m not-”

*stomach growling sounds*

Jinri holds her belly in embarrassment while Soojung tries her best not to laugh at the cute scene, “not hungry, huh?”

“S-Shut up…”

 

* * *

 

“Yah, I thought you said no to my offer?” Soojung asks teasingly while eyeing the two empty plates in front of her. Jinri shoots her a glare and giggles shyly, “I can’t help it… you were the one insisting that I should eat more.”

“That’s because you’re so skinny!” the brunette defends herself, “you really should eat more, Ssul! What if you get sick?”

“Nah, my immune system is really strong,” the Choi laughs, “you know, judging by Yoona-ssi’s question earlier, it seems like to other people, we’re going on a date today.”

Good thing Soojung isn’t drinking anything at that moment; else she might choke herself to death. “W-We what?”

“Don’t look so surprised, Jungie~” Jinri coos, “This is, like, our first ‘official’ date, you know? Since I’ve been so busy with my part-time jobs and all… I feel like such a bad lover…”

“Y-You’re not that bad!” Soojung splutters in panic, “If anything, you’re absolutely amazing, really!”

The taller of the two girls smiles genuinely, “thank you, but amazing is a bit of an exaggeration…” she says, “I’d say decent but you’re a stubborn cat so I’ll let this one pass-”

“Decent doesn’t do you justice!”

“See?”

Soojung realizes she has fallen into Jinri’s trap and groans, “conceited kid…”

“Hey, I’m older than you!” the jet black-haired girl giggles, which only makes Soojung more annoyed, “you remind me of Sooyeon-unnie. She said the exact same thing this morning.”

“Sooyeon-unnie?” Jinri asks, confused. The brunette wants to pinch Jinri’s cheeks for being so cute but holds the urge in, “I mean my sister, Jessica. Her Korean name is Jung Sooyeon, not that many people use it anyway.”

“Oh,” the Choi’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape, “must be so nice, right? Having a sister like Jessica-ssi, I mean.”

“Nice? What nice?” Soojung makes a face which successfully makes Jinri laughs, “I’d rather use the term ‘annoying’. She’s really bossy, lazy, authoritative… Geez, just this morning she rolls me off my comfy sofa.”

The taller girl’s laugh subsides into a fit of giggles, “but, you love her don’t you?”

“Well…” the slightly younger girl smiles a bit, “yeah, of course… she’s my sister, after all. She’s the only family I have in Seoul.”

Jinri stops giggling entirely, “the only one? What about your parents?”

“They’re in USA. Only Jessica and I live in South Korea,” Soojung sighs, “not that it matters, though. We still video-call them twice a month, no matter how busy we are. I guess this is one of the disadvantages of being a celebrity’s sister. She gets famous, I get famous, we get busy, and voila! Stuffs like this happen.”

The Choi quietly listens.

“But honestly speaking,” the brunette lets out a laugh, “I don’t hate this one bit. In fact, I’ve gotten so used to it that it will feel weird if one day I stop doing what I usually do, just like today.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“On normal occasion, yes,” she pauses, “but there are times when I just get fed up, you know… People expect so much, but I’m only human too. Well, sometimes I even forget that fact.”

“We’re human, yes,” Jinri nods as she sips her cola, “if you forget about it, I’ll remind you.”

It’s just a simple statement, really, but it makes Soojung feel better than everything she has ever head from her friends and family.

 

* * *

 

Since the sun is still brightly shining on top of their head, the pretend lovers decide to stroll around the mall or, as we call it, ‘window shopping’.

“Jungie, look at that shop!” is what Jinri will exclaim happily each time a shop catches her attention. Even though Soojung is obviously the more fashionable of the two, she isn’t exactly keen of shopping, hence why she willingly allows Jinri to drag her from shop to shop.

“Isn’t this dress cute?”

“Look, Jungie, that cardigan looks so pretty!”

“Jungie, Jungie! That hat looks so cute, don’t you think?”

 **For a girl who’s strict with her spending, this girl is noisy when it comes to shopping…** Soojung thought. Not that she minds, though. Seeing Jinri’s happy smile throughout the entire way is enough reward for the Jung even though her legs now hurt like hell.

The only annoying thing is, Jinri only says this and that, but she doesn’t buy anything. Like really, she just gets into a shop, pulls out a very pretty article of clothing, praises it’s appealing visual, puts it back in its place, and then leaves the goddamn shop. Every. Single. Fucking. Time.

Suddenly the taller girl stops walking, which inadvertently makes her back crashes with Soojung’s face. “Yah!” the brunette whines, “Why do you stop?”

“Look, Jungie!” the Choi points at an accessories shop, “let’s go there!”

“Why asking for my permission when you’re just going to drag me there anyway?” Soojung deadpans, of which the slightly older girl only laughs dismissively and pulls the obviously tired girl along.

The moment they enters the shop, Soojung regrets not preparing her eyes for what is awaiting her. Pink, pink everywhere. Pink floors, pink walls, pink shelves, pink counters, pink cabinets, pink workers… oh wait, it’s just the attire. Maybe the only things that aren’t colored pink are the accessories they sell, but even then the Jung catches sights of some of them being colored as such. **Oh, my poor, poor eyes** , she wails inside her mind.

When her eyes finally adjust to the bright surroundings, Soojung realizes that Jinri isn’t next to her anymore. “Ssul?” she calls out, feeling slightly afraid that she has lost her summer lover.

“Right here, Jungie~” comes an answer from the deeper part of the shop. Soojung scurries to her pretend girlfriend and gives her a weird look as Jinri shows her a couple bracelets. “Aren’t this cute?” the taller girl says, a grin plastered on her face, “these kind of stuffs can make us look like a real couple!”

“C-Couple?” Soojung stammers, the words leaving her mouth sounds so foreign yet so familiar, like it’s a word she can say every day without getting bored of it. “Yeah, couple,” Jinri laughs, “but let’s just forget about it for now. Let’s take things slowly but surely… like, I know you’re not entirely sure whether this is the right thing to do, right? Us being a couple and all that, when we’ve only just met two days ago…”

**She understands…**

“… let’s just look around a bit longer… I can afford at least these kind of things, don’t worry,” the jet black haired girl smiles before walking past the awestruck Soojung, looking around once more. The brunette casts the taller girl a glance and she can feel the corner of her lips curling upwards. She then looks back at the dangling bracelets and bites her lower lips. **Should I?**

 

* * *

 

The sun has set and now the two are inside Soojung’s car which is parked in front of Jinri’s apartment building.

“Well, thank you so much for today’s ‘makeshift date’, Jungie,” the passenger smiles warmly, “I have lots of fun today.”

“Me too,” the shorter girl smiles back, “thank you for accompanying me to buy that meat plushy.”

“The one you and Yoona-ssi were fighting for?” Jinri wiggles her eyebrows teasingly, and the brunette laughs it off despite finding it quite suggestive and sexy, “don’t remind me of that incident again! I almost lash out at her, really!”

“You really shouldn’t, you bad girl!” the Choi laughs along.

“But, I’m serious,” Soojung says, suddenly looking serious, “If you weren’t there, there might have been a commotion there. You… you calmed me down, something that even my family finds it hard to do. I don’t know why, but your presence… was enough to keep me sane…”

Seeing as how the slightly older girl keeps quiet, the driver takes it as a sign for her to continue, “It’s true, the idea of being a couple with someone is something that I never thought would happen to me… In fact, if three days ago, someone told me that I’ll be in a mock relationship with someone, I’d probably just laugh it off and said that it’ll only happen in their dreams,” she pauses, “but here am I… sitting beside my pretend girlfriend after a ‘makeshift date’ after driving her back home.”

“I hope you won’t take it badly, but I wish for us to keep this thing in a slow pace…” Soojung smiles at the girl while her right hand is busy fiddling inside her jeans pocket, “Vic-unnie said that I might be attracted to you… but I honestly don’t know what kind of signs gives away that fact… until then, will you help me realizes what relationship is?”

Jinri is at a loss of words, but she beams her eyesmile at the Jung, her warm and gentle eyesmile that radiates brighter than the sun and calms more than the sound of ocean waves, “of course,” she finally says, “of course, Jungie.”

“Thank you so much, Ssul…” the brunette has never smiles as brightly as she is right now, but she’s sure this is only one of many more to come in future days, “is it okay if I… ugh, I know this is childish but still…”

“What?”

“T-This bracelet…” Soojung fishes out a familiar bracelet from her pocket, “take this as a sign of our… our… uhm, I don’t know how to call our ‘relationship’. I mean, this isn’t exactly a relationship but more like-”

“Jungie, calm down,” Jinri holds the shorter girl’s shoulders to stop her, “I understand. I’ll take it, okay? Stop stuttering.”

The Jung’s face flushes into many hues of red, “o-okay…”

“Hey, isn’t this the bracelet I showed you before?” the Choi asks, amused. She notices an inscription that wasn’t there when she first saw it, “what is this?”

“Oh… you know how many idols have pairing names?” the shorter girl asks sheepishly, “well, I thought that maybe we could have one on our own, too… b-but, f-forget it if you think it’s childish because-”

“It’s a cute idea, actually! I like it!” Jinri gleefully says as she traces the engraving with her index finger, “so, what did you write? I can’t see it; it’s quite dark in here.”

“Well,” Soojung grins, “I took **_Jung_** from ‘Soojung’ and **_Li_** from ‘Sulli’… **_JungLi_** , do you like it?”

“Like it?” Jinri smiles, “I love it.”


	5. Day Four: The Sun and The Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m trying to take this seriously and I’ll make sure no one, and I mean no one,” she smirks, “will ever be allowed to flirt with you like that ever again.”

Soojung might seems like a mature woman at times, but really she’s still just a teenager, a high-school girl at that. She’s not diligent all the time, she has her own lazy moments… which seem to run in the Jung bloods, seeing how even Jessica can get so lazy like every single time.

But she denies this fact most of the time, saying that there’s no way she is ‘a stupid lazy-ass like Sooyeon-unnie’, and that she is ‘way, way more diligent that Jessica’.

So when she realizes she still has some homework left sprawled all over her study desk, Soojung decides that maybe this is the right time for her to show the whole world just who is the better one of the two Jung, well not out of hate but rather out of sisterly competition (albeit one-sided since Jessica doesn’t give a single fuck about any competition).

Pushing her heavy light body out of the super comfortable king-sized bed, Soojung trudges her way to the maroon Maplewood desk with her vibrant red iPod in one hand and a black with gold lines fountain pen in another, both given by Amber and Victoria, respectively. Docking her iPod into her customized audio speaker, the brunette turns on her ‘study playlist’, a specialized playlist consisting mostly of classical music (recommended by her three friends) that is said to be able to enhance student’s learning capabilities (and of course being a fond maniac of life hacks Soojung happily accepts the idea right away).

But just as she opened the small cabinet on the right side of the table and puts her right palm into it, the Jung realizes that she’s out of blank papers. No paper, no homework. No homework, no score. No score, no graduate. No graduate, no life.

“Shit,” she murmurs under her breath, “and no one’s at home right now, too… I have no choice, then…”

Putting down her fountain pen, Soojung grabs her Lotus Evora GTE key and Chanel purse before elegantly makes her way to the Jung mansion’s garage, a destination etched in her mind.

The Bookstore.

 

* * *

 

The Jung always have high standards in everything they do and everywhere they go to.

For Soojung, it’s a must that her favorite places have distinctly elegant and sophisticated feeling in them that can make her drown into oblivion, that can make her lose track of time (something she rarely,  _rarely_  do), that can make her feel less burdened and more addicted in going there. Maybe it’s a little bit higher than the Jung family’s normal standards, but hey, if you want the best, might as well raise your own higher than the highest. Hence why there’re only a few places befitting of Krystal Jung Soojung’s majestical standards: her favorite café that she frequents with Amber, the school’s rooftop, and The Bookstore.

Maybe if you are a bystander who has never even heard of the youngest Jung before and only knows how she looks like from gossips and stories and rumors, you’ll think of her as a party animal, a club bitch, or whatever in that context. But really she’s just a definition of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, for Soojung surprisingly dislikes party. She thinks party is a major waste of time, and when you go there, it’ll either you end up heavily wasted and will get extreme hangover the next morning, or you get raped ‘with consent’ (because drunk mind is the haziest a human’s mind can get) and will get up in the next morning naked and ashamed. Really, there’s no fun in partying at all.

Instead, Soojung likes to spend her free time doing things she likes the most, hanging out with her friends. With Amber, she can usually be found sitting at the nearest table to the window inside her favorite café near SM Academy while sipping random drinks and inserting random cakes into her mouth. With Victoria… well, the Chinese girl is quite random with her hangout places, but mostly they involve Mother Nature as a big part of the premises, like the park or the Han River.

Soojung smiles as she finally arrives at her destination. After parking her sport car somewhere near (and again it attracts passersby attentions), the brunette sashays to the elegant Victorian-era entrance and delicately pushes the door handle, bell chimes signaling her arrival. Wasting no time whatsoever, the girl makes her way to the stationary section and puts a rim of papers into her basket. Glad that her main objective has been achieved, Soojung makes a U-turn to her favorite part of the store, the Fiction section. Oh yes, Soojung loves fiction. She can spend an entire day just finishing up the whole pages of three Harry Potter novels, but that’s when she was seven… around eleven years ago. Now she can finish up five novels and ten comics when she doesn’t have any schedule and is wasting her time lazing in the living room.

Her cat-like gaze catches a sight of a new novel she has never read before and life can’t get any better for Soojung. But just as she is about to grab the book, someone else beat her to it.

“Hey! What gives-” she pauses abruptly when she sees who the other person is, “Luna?”

The short-haired girl looks up from her newfound book to the other girl, “Oh, hi Krys!”

 

* * *

 

Soojung’s relationship with Luna Park Sunyoung can possibly be the weirdest amongst the four friends.

Unlike with Amber, who she befriends the first amongst many of her friends, or Victoria, who Amber introduces and she grows fond of, Soojung first knows Luna through SM Academy’s annual student batch ranking system, where students’ ranks are based on academic achievements and extracurricular attendances and scores. With SM Academy’s international education system, academic achievements are harder to obtain than in other school around Seoul, and people within the top ten are all mightily famous because of this, including Amber, the 8th rank, Victoria, the 5th rank, and Soojung, the 2nd rank.

Now, this is what baffled Soojung. How in the world could she, who studied harder than the others and even went through some sleepless nights just to get straight As in all subjects, only managed a 2nd place? She was bewildered and furious (thought she kept it to herself) and was determined to know who the first rank was and how he or she managed to beat her.

“Who was it, Am?” she asked the tomboy, “who was the first?”

“Ooooh, someone’s grumpy because she lost~” Amber cooed teasingly, but whimpered when Soojung hit her back, hard, “ouch! Krys, can you tone down the abusive behavior…?”

“I will if you just answer my question properly, stupid llama,” the younger scoffs, “so, who was it?”

“Well, her name is…” the older girl paused, “Park Sunyoung, but most people call her Luna.”

“‘Luna’?” Amber nods. “Who is she?”

“A genius, perhaps?” the tomboy shrugged, “all I know is, she’s quite well-known, but not what I’d call famous.”

“The top ten are all famous people, Amber.”

“True, but tell me, have you ever heard about her before?” she asked the Jung, who couldn’t give any answer. She was right, Luna was not exactly well-known at that time.

But then, it all changed when SM Academy was holding an event for their anniversary. Due to the school’s blooming popularity in entertainment talents, the school decided to hold a musical that would be open to outsiders as well. It was a special chance to showcase your talent and may be get scouted by famous talent agency, and everyone was determined to get chosen for the lead role at all cost, including Soojung. Even though she was already famous in the whole city (courtesy of Jessica Jung) and that she wasn’t much of an attention lover, Soojung wanted to prove that she is also just as talented, if not more, than her sister in hope that people would stop thinking that she got to where she was at because of the older Jung’s influence.

She practiced really hard since three months before the audition, singing and reciting her dialogues and singing again and reciting her dialogues again until she polished her skills into perfection. She also practiced her confidence by talking more to the staffs of her photo-shoots and to everyone who talked to her, something she avoided due to her shyness. But it all went to drain when she only got the secondary female lead, as the main female lead position was surprisingly taken by Luna.

Yes, Luna. The formerly unknown girl rose to newfound fame when people finally realized that she has melodious and powerful voice that could shatter sadness and brighten any gloomy atmosphere just with a quick listen. She sang with so much feel, emotion, and confidence, that the judges quickly approved of her filling the main female lead position. Soojung was really surprised because never had she even imagined in the deepest pit of her mind that Luna was a musically talented singer because, again, she was not that famous.

And Soojung was jealous. Like,  _really_  jealous. Luna was better than her in ranks, and just as she thought she was better in singing, Luna also beat her in it. Luna was the type of someone she never thought exist, but she did, and Soojung hated that fact.

She wanted to hate the girl (the reason might be stupid but she’s still a young girl after all), but found herself failing miserably with the time she spent practicing for the musical was equal to the time she spent with the older girl and during those times she couldn’t help but be mesmerized. Luna is sweet, perhaps overly so which makes it a bit bad, but seriously no one in their right mind would have the capability and decency to hate on this girl. She is like a happy virus, an energy pill, a vitamin, someone that brightens the atmosphere of any place she’s at with her genuinely wide grin and friendly politeness and extreme kindness. Every time Soojung wanted to avoid the tanner girl, Luna would always found her ways into the Jung’s heart hidden underneath her jealousy wall, and eventually the brunette just gave up on any attempt.

It doesn’t help that Victoria and even Amber quickly warmed up to the short-haired brainiac as well, which sometimes annoyed Soojung to no end because let’s not forget that Luna beat her in ranks  _and_  musicals, and Soojung hates being beaten. Luna is also a combination of mischievous and sly and most importantly, she’s a prankster, a majorly annoying one at that. She’s a combination of anything Soojung hates but encounters every day and the Jung completely loathes her new situation.

There was this one time when Luna accidentally found out that Soojung didn’t know how to use a phone booth and she used this fun fact as an excuse to use one every day to call Soojung, and this action lead to a frantic Soojung who was afraid of all those calls from unknown numbers and a maniacally laughing Luna who kept on doing so until a month later after the younger girl begged her every day to stop because those prank calls were getting creepier and creepier for her.

There was also this one time after Soojung admitted that she was gay when Luna kept on going to the former’s house while bringing some magazines along… actually, those magazines are the infamous ‘Playboy’s. Soojung almost had mini heart attacks whenever she heard movements from outside her room every time Luna visited her because if Jessica managed to found out then she’s doomed for eternity (Jessica doesn’t know that she’s gay yet). Luna stopped coming after two months because Soojung decided to lock the door so that the Park couldn’t come, but she still managed to smuggled some editions into her shared classes with the brunette and only after she was busted by none other than her boyfriend, Onew, that she finally stopped pestering Soojung (“that’s too bad, tho. You’re so much fun to tease, Krys!” – Amber).

Overall, Luna is a disaster, at least for Soojung. Or, to be precise, Luna is a bipolar disaster. Sometimes Luna can be sweet and friendly and kind and understanding and any other perfect qualities, and other times she can be mischievous and sly and a tease and any other dreaded qualities.

Luna is Soojung’s friend and enemy. In other words, she’s her frienemies.

 

* * *

  

“It’s quite unusual to see you here, Krys,” Luna grins, “what a coincidence, don’t you think?”

Soojung nods stiffly. Amongst all of her favorite places that she shares with her best friends, The Bookstore is the only one that she shares with Luna, mainly because of their shared interest in reading books. In fact, Luna was the one who recommended the said store for Soojung because she knows the younger girl loves anything sophisticated and antique and the store has them all.

“So, whatcha doing here, Krys?”

“I’m… buying some papers. Ran out of those just as I was about to start working on my homework,” the brunette answers, “how about you?”

Luna shrugs, “I have nothing to do at all since…” she smirks, “I already finished all my homework yesterday, so yeah.”

Soojung gritted her teeth. Why does she have to meet a smug Luna now of all times? “I… see…” she muttered under her breath, “I guess I’ll see you around then…”

“Whoa whoa, leaving so soon, Krys?” the shorter girl laughs, “I was just kidding, seriously. I’m not that nerdy, you know?”

**That doesn’t even half sounds like a joke!**  Soojung protests inwardly but keeps wearing her poker-face, “yeah, I can see that.”

“Offended much?” Luna giggles, “come on, let me pay for that.”

“Are you high?” the Jung accuses, “you’re acting weird.”

“Trust me, I’m always weird,” Luna nonchalantly replies, “nah, honestly, I’m just having one of those couple fight moments with Jinki. Nothing new, really.”

**Nothing new** , Soojung reaffirms inside her head. Even inside their cliques, LuNew couple have the most number of fights, ranging from petty to a potentially breaking fights. The fun fact is, ZhouToria and HenBer combined still don’t have nearly a quarter of the amount of LuNew’s fights, although then again those musical lovebirds are a perfect example of ‘weird couple’.

That might have been another reason why Soojung dislikes relationship. Sometimes, she wonders if being in love with someone is worth all the emotional exhaustions and heartbreaks she might experience from inevitable arguments like these because let’s face it, no couple in this world is perfect. Even her parents have their own arguments, though so far there’re nothing too major. It’s just not right holding on to a broken relationship on the pretext of ‘still in love’, that’s just stupid and irrational and brainless and those are things that belong to Soojung’s Meh-List.

“Since when?” she asks.

“Yesterday evening, 6 p.m., in front of the train station,” Luna sighs, “I knew he was tired, but he was lashing out on me like I was the one at fault. Like, I only told him to take a better care of his own health because his musical audition is in a week and if he gets sick then he might not be able to pass but-”

“Yeah, yeah… I get it, I get it…” Soojung waves her hands dismissively.  **How did one small question escalate to telling me the whole story?**

“I’m sure you do,” the Park rolls her eyes, “come on, let’s get your papers billed up.”

“‘Billed up’?”

“I mean paid, duh,” Luna rolls her eyes again, “I thought it’s a common slang?”

**No it’s not** , Soojung wants to gag but decides not to since she’s too tired to response anyway.

They make their ways to the cashier quietly since none of them wants to talk, but when Luna notices that Soojung stops midway, she raises one of her eyebrows and curtly asks, “What?”

“N-No, it’s just… it’s just…” the brunette can feel goose bumps all over her body, “L-Luna, aren’t you still going to read some more? I-I’m just g-going to pay for these and g-go home…”

“What? No, I’m not, and I said I’m paying for your papers right?” the shorter girl gives Soojung a weird, worried look, “are you okay? Your body seems rigid with goose bumps all over, and you seems to have a bit of linguistic problem right now. Is something wrong?”

**The wrong thing is that you are here while that Sulli is here… working!?**  The Jung can feel her heart pulsating faster and louder and cold sweats forming on her forehead. Luna, still confused, turns her head to see what Soojung’s seeing at that moment, and the sight that meets her eyes doesn’t help explaining the situation to her in the slightest, but it's enough to make her jaw drops.

Behind the counter, Luna sees a tall girl, possibly their age or younger, sorting out bills and notes while typing in the numbers into her antique calculator with on hand, holding the bills with another. She looks pretty slash beautiful slash angelic and Luna can almost swear she sees the girl radiating lights from her entire body just like the sun.  **Ooooh pretty gurl…**

“Yow, Jung-Jung, you okay there man?” Luna teasingly waves her hand in front of Soojung’s face, which successfully snaps the younger girl back to reality, “w-what!?”

“I know you were shamelessly ogling that sexy gurl~” the older coos in a singsong manner as she skips away from the Jung all the way towards Jinri, and the brunette widens her eyes in shock as she scurries to their place, furious and bewildered while mumbling incoherent profanities and such. But she’s a tad bit too late.

“Heyyo beautiful~” the Park whistles, startling the taller girl, “I’m Park Sunyoung but people call me Luna around here. Do you have a name or do other people just call you ‘angel’ because that’s what you are to me.”

On normal occasion Jinri would have blush shyly, but then she remembers how Soojung once called her an angel and the thought of it makes her laugh. Luna shoots her a confused glare, “Is my flirting skills not polished enough? Why are you laughing, pretty girl?”

“Ah no, your flirting skill is quite good,” the Choi giggles, “It’s just… something along those lines you said corresponded with something in my memories, that’s why.”

“Is that so?” the short-haired girl gives her a skeptical look but shrugs when Jinri nods assuringly, “aye, then. Glad you’re not scared out of your wits because of my goddess-like flirting skill. So, can we start over? Because my friend there looks like she can gouge my eyes and teeth out and grinds them together to make a ‘Luna broth’.”

A bit disgusted because of the gore depiction, the jet black-haired girl glanced over Luna’s shoulder and sees her summer lover glaring at their direction (or to be precise, at Luna’s direction) with a look that might even kill a lion. She gasps, “Is that Jungie?”

“‘Jungie’? Which jungle in Southeast Asia is that?” Luna asks innocently which only makes Jinri laugh harder, “I mean, is that Soojung over there?”

“Soojung?” the shorter girl turns around but quickly returns back to her previous position as soon as her eyes meet Soojung’s full-on death glare, “you mean Krystal?”

“You’re her friend?”

“Yeah… wait a second…” Luna narrows her eyes while scanning Jinri from head to toe and murmuring, “jet black hair, pale complexion, tall height, ideal built, angelic eye smile…” her eyes widen more than a tennis ball as she loudly exclaims, “OHMYZEUS YOU’RE SULLI!”

The Choi looks perplexed, “yes, how do you-”

“FOR THE LORD OF ATHENA!” good thing nobody else but the three girls are in the store right now because Luna’s voice sounds like she had just eaten a megaphone, “GOOD GRACIOUS MOTHER OF OLYMPUS Ambro was right! You’re really beautiful!”

“A… ‘Ambro’?”

“I mean Amber. But seriously, HI!” Luna grabs Jinri’s hand from behind the counter and shakes it furiously, “I’m Park Sunyoung but people call me Luna. Nice to finally meet you, Krystal’s ‘summer lover’!”

Soojung chokes on her own spit.  **I’m seriously going to kill that llama later!**

“I-I’m Choi Jinri, b-but call me S-Sulli…” it’s getting harder for the tall clerk to speak properly because Luna’s handshake is so powerful her entire body shakes along.

“I know! I know!” the short-haired girl chirps, “and I also know that Soojung is definitely head over heels for you, babe!”

“HEY!” Soojung finally speaks out, “What the hell, Luna!?”

“What, you’re not?” the older girl tilts her head cutely, “fine then… Hey, Sulli-ah~” she calls happily, but Soojung swears she saw the shorter girl wearing a sly smirk, “do you wanna built a snowman?”

Poor Jinri gets more and more clueless with each passing minutes, “pardon?”

“Or ride our bikes around the halls~” Luna sings teasingly.  **Oh, here we go again** , the brunette thought and frowns. “I think some company is overdue,” the shortest of the three glances at her frowning friend and smirks, “I’ve started talking to the pictures on the wall-” she suddenly jumps to the top of the counter and slides to the other side, where Jinri’s at, before skipping her way and sits on top of a long table behind the taller girl and says to a painting of a sunflower hanging on the peach wall, “-hang in there, Ms. Sunflower!”

Jinri laughs at the stupid but funny improvisation while Soojung rolls her eyes and chants some mantras to herself, “she’s not your friend… she’s not your friend… she’s definitely not your friend…”

“It’s time to see what I can do,” the lunatic girl stands up all of a sudden, “to test the limit and break through~”

Luna makes her way painfully slowly towards Jinri, and the way she looks at the taller girl makes the Jung feel uncomfortable in the pit of her stomach.

“No right, no wrong, no rules for me,” she smirks smugly and launches herself to the surprised clerk, “I’M FREE!”

And the thing that happen next surprised both of the other girls.

Luna jumps on Jinri and lands on top of her, practically hugging the taller girl tightly while nuzzling her face on the crook of the Choi’s porcelain-white neck. Her hands that encircles the other girl moves after a while and places themselves… on Jinri’s chest.

Poor Soojung gets so angry at the crazy scenes that unfold themselves in front of her, “LUNA PARK SUNYOUNG!”

“KRYSTAL JUNG SOOJUNG!” the short-haired girl answers in the same tone, a bit louder even which makes Jinri winces due to its loudness, “oops, I’m sorry Sulli-baby~”

“YAH!” Soojung jumps over the counter and tries to pull her frienemy away from her mock girlfriend, but to no avail as Luna’s hug becomes tighter, “get the fuck away from her!”

“YAH!” Luna screams back, “Have you not heard of this one K-Drama called ‘The Moon Embracing the Sun’?” she asks, the mischievous smirk getting wider and wider, “my name is Luna which means ‘moon’ and Sulli-ah’s radiating beauty is definitely a good example of the ‘sun’. It matches, don’t you think?”

“WHAT THE HELL!?”

“Besides, you denied it when I said you’re interested in Sulli-ah…” she playfully pouts and gives Jinri a puppy look, “so that means you don’t belong to anyone right, Sulli-baby?”

Jinri gives her an unsure look, “uh… I-”

“L.U.N.A…” Luna gulps and glances at the Jung, a bad, bad mistake as Soojung is giving Luna her deadliest glare ever and her body is emitting some kind of dark auras that drops the temperature in the room to almost below the freezing point, “Get. Away. From. Her.”

“O-Okay, okay! Geez…” Luna pulls her hands away and raises them in defeat, “I was just fooling around, gawd. You know I have Jinki!”

“JUST GO HOME!” Soojung is beyond help right now, “NO NEED TO PAY FOR MY PAPERS! JUST. GO. HOME!”

And Luna knows that. Scared, she leans towards the Choi’s left ear and whispers, “You know I was joking, right? And sorry about my antics, people don’t call me ‘Luna’ without a reason, y’know? I’m kind of… ‘lunatic’.”

Jinri gives a slight, stiff nod, “of course, Luna-ssi. S-See you around…”

And with that, Luna makes a mad dash towards the wooden door and escapes from hell.

Soojung’s glare lingers on the poor door even after five minutes later, just to make sure that the crazy girl won’t return back anytime soon. Jinri sighs and walks out of her counter properly through a small door on the right side of the table and makes her way to her pretend girlfriend’s side, “one kind of a friend you have there, Jungie…”

Soojung snorts, “What friend? She’s embarrassing the hell out of me, Ssul!”

“Well, at least she’s nice…”

The Jung sighs audibly and turns to look at Jinri’s mellow eyes, “I’m so sorry for all the trouble she caused…” she glances at the table which now has some shoe prints all over it, “especially that. God, I’m so sorry. I’m going to pay for the damage caused-”

“It’s okay, Jungie. You don’t have to do that, I can just wipe it clean later,” she smiles assuringly, “Anyway, about what Luna-ssi said…”

Soojung stares at the taller girl for a short while, “what? She said lots of things just now.”

“You’re head over heels for me?” Jinri giggles, “Is that true?”

The brunette’s face turns into different shades of red, “I-I-I-I-”

The taller girl laughs, “I’m just joking. Maybe you will someday, but like I always said, let’s just take things slowly for both of us, okay?”

Soojung nods, still blushing, “maybe…” she whispers, “the day will arrive sooner than what I expected…”

Jinri laughs again, “I hear that, you know?”

“Good,” Soojung laughs along, albeit still a bit embarrassed, “I made sure you do ‘cause you need to know that,” she leans towards the surprised girl, “I’m trying to take this seriously and I’ll make sure no one, and I mean  _no one_ ,” she smirks, “will ever be allowed to flirt with you like that ever again.”

Jinri widens her eyes, surprised, but nods nonetheless, “so,” she whispers, “you were jealous of Luna?”

The slightly younger girl scoffs, “jealous? I’m not.”

“If you say so, princess,” the Choi giggles, “give me your papers, Jungie. I’m going to scan them first.”

 

* * *

 

 

After the shorter girl pays for it (and helps the clerk clean the table while ignoring the continuous protests from Jinri), she makes her way to her car with a smile. It feels good to tell the girl what was bugging her mind ever since Luna makes her going frantic. Once she seats herself properly, she checks to see if she isn’t missing anything and sees something scribbled on the corner of the uppermost paper. She takes it out and smiles gently, “that Ssul, really…”

It’s a phone number.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I love f(x)'s new album! Although 'Summer Lover' is possibly my least favorite track, I feel like making a fanfic based on that song (well, at least based on the title) so this is it! I live in a tropical country, however, so I've never actually experienced summer ._. anyway, happy reading :D
> 
>  
> 
> P.S: thoughts are written in bold.


End file.
